Quentin Tarantino Refuses To Recut “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” For China
Quentin Tarantino and Bruce Lee‘s daughter, Shannon Lee are not into each other. Shannon never wanted Quentin to use Bruce in his movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood–and so after he did, she got pissed over how her dad was portrayed. She didn’t like Quentin showing her dad as an over-confident jerk who gets curb-stomped by Brad Pitt–which is like the least believable thing in the movie where Leonardo Di Caprio marries a 30-year-old. Shannon and Quentin slapped at each other, with Quentin calling Bruce Lee an “arrogant” person. Shannon then decided she was going to take her petty to the fucking government–the Chinese government. And so Shannon got the movie’s release in China halted unless Quentin edits it, and he’s refused to recut it to satisfy the Chinese censors. So it looks like Once Upon A Time In Hollywood will only live on as a DVDRip in China–BRRip if they’re lucky.
Variety says that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was supposed to be released in China on October 25, but now it has been “temporarily put on hold”. Shannon’s complaint to China’s National Film Administration about the depiction of her late father was met with immediate response. Bruce Lee is a hero to many Chinese people, so they were like, “Excuse us? Bruce’s daughter is way more relevant than Quentin Tarantino!”
A source told Variety that Quentin was given the option to recut the movie, and I’m guessing that meant that it would get released in China if he left out the Bruce Lee scene.
“As long as Quentin can make some cuts, it will be released as planned.”
But Quentin ain’t interested. Variety says that Quentin has no intention of recutting the movie and he gets final say because that’s how much sway he has in the American film industry.
Quentin’s other movie, Django Unchained, also had similar censorship issues with China, mostly due to the violence and nudity, and Quentin did recut that one and it also flopped hard. So who knows if Quentin just doesn’t want to waste his time for another Chinese clunker; especially since he’s already tripled the $90 million budget of the movie elsewhere–bringing in $366.8 million.
I guess China will never know what it’s like to see Brad Pitt absolutely body Bruce Lee in the movies. On the bright side, we did all just get to see Shannon Lee absolutely body Quentin Tarantino in China.
Pic: Wenn.com